UN team surveys aftermath of Indonesia’s lethal earthquake

As a United Nations team today assessed emergency relief needs in the aftermath of the massive earthquake that struck Indonesia, local authorities said that the death toll has climbed to 57 and more than 3,000 people have been forced from their homes.

Another 42 people are missing and feared buried following a landslide in Cianjur district and almost 24,000 houses were either totally or partially damaged in yesterday’s earthquake, with some 367 schools and 353 places of worship in West Java also affected, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

A team of 10 UN officials from various agencies were dispatched today to the areas most affected by the earthquake, which measures about 7.3 on the Richter scale when it struck the Tasikmalaya district of West Java.

Two serious aftershocks measuring 5.1 and 5.4 respectively were also recorded within the next 90 minutes and 69 smaller tremors have since been reported, with indications that the quake was felt as far north as the national capital, Jakarta, and as far east as the island of Bali.

The UN assessment team – consisting of representatives from the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the World Food Programme (WFP), the UN Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS), the World Bank and OCHA – started its mission in Tasikmalaya, South Bandung, Garut and Bandung districts and will visit the remaining affected districts of Ciamis and Cianjur tomorrow.

OCHA is also slated to meet tomorrow to finalize the results of the fact-finding operation, and Indonesia’s National Coordinating Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) has reported that local and national governments have the resources to respond to the crisis.